Spilled Coffee
by CarsonAvery1234
Summary: "I owed a girl a shirt for bumping into her and dumping coffee on her. . ." Dick nodded, "You couldn't be more subtle and just ask for her number?" he teased. Jason rolled his eyes and continued walking down the street. "I did get her number. . ." he mumbled. [one-shot; no slash; edited by TheOneThatGotAway99]


**Spilled Coffee**

_By: CarsonAvery1234 Edited by: TheOneThatGotAway99_

* * *

Jason couldn't sleep; he was tossing and turning in his bed, the afternoon sun shining through his window. The Joker had escaped his clutches last night while he was on patrol. It's what kept him awake now.

Jason grumbled and kicked the blankets off himself, getting up from his bed wearing a t-shirt and boxers; he grabbed a pair of pants and shoved them on. He walked around his apartment, angry at himself for the night before. Finally, he just shoved on his boots, grabbed his keys, slamming the door on the way out.

The streets of Gotham were packed; Jason walked to a coffee shop to grab himself a cup O'Joe.

He left the coffee shop, steaming cup in hand, but as soon as he turned the corner, he ran into someone.

"Damnit! Why can't you watch where you're going?" A very angry female voice said in front of him.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized, realizing he spilt his coffee all over the woman.

She looked up at him glaring, her green eyes penetrating his. "Ugh! It's fine, I don't have time to go home and change my shirt," she complained.

"Let me buy you a new one for ruining this one," he tried to make things better.

"No, I have to be at work in. . ." she looked down at her phone. "Damn, right now!" She shoved past Jason to try and hurry to get to work.

"Where do you work? I can go buy you one and bring it you?" Jason suggested, catching up to her.

"No, no. It's fine, I'll just work like this," she replied, walking as fast as she could to what looked like the direction of . . . the newspaper?

"I insist. What size shirt do you wear? What style do you prefer?" Jason asked. He really had no idea about anything female . . . but for some reason he found himself very attracted to her. He wanted to make up for spilling coffee all over her.

She stopped. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Damnit, lady! I'm trying to make up for spilling coffee on your shirt! Can't you see that? For once in my life I am trying to be nice to someone," Jason stated, starting to get mad at this woman who was a complete stranger to him.

"Fine, if it gets you to leave me alone," she grumbled. "I work at the newspaper. Just get me a Gotham Rogues t-shirt and we'll call it even, okay? I'm a sports journalist at the Gotham Gazette."

Jason was suddenly starstruck, "You're Alialee Zaren?"

She looked at him surprised, "Yeah. . ."

"I've read every single one of your articles." At that, she started walking towards Gotham Gazette. "I'm not joking."

"I can see that. Especially since you know my name and I don't know yours."

"I'm Jason Todd Wayne," Jason said as he kept pace with her.

"Oh! You're one of Bruce Wayne's adopted sons. I've heard about you," she said.

"Uhm . . . what exactly have you heard?" he asked, raising a brow at her.

"Natalia says you are attractive. . . I just can't see it," Alialee said with a smirk. "I've also heard that you are rude and a complete smartass."

"The smartass, yes. . . Rude? Only to people I don't like. For example, my little brother Damian."

"Right, the youngest of the Wayne family." She nodded her head. "Aren't you supposed to be buying me a shirt?"

Jason smirked. "Oh, so now that you know I come from a family with money, you are very willing to get gifts from me," he mocked.

"That's not it at all. I figured the faster I got a shirt, the faster I don't have to deal with you anymore." Jason really liked this girl now, she was a smartass like him, enjoyed sports – well hell, she wrote about them!

"Well, I figured I should walk you to work, just to make sure nothing else happens to you," he said with a grin on his face.

The rest of the walk was in silence, which gave Jason time to think of a plan to get this girl to go out on a date with him. She was already letting him walk her to work; maybe there was some way to get her to give him her phone number.

She stopped once she reached the front doors to the Gotham Gazette.

"Well, thanks for walking me. You really didn't have to." She didn't sound like she was pissed off anymore, which, to Jason, that was a good thing.

"You're welcome. I will be here in about twenty minutes or so with a new shirt for you."

"Honestly, you really don't have to, but thank you anyway," she said getting ready to walk inside.

"I will be back, I promise." He smiled at her.

She nodded and walked inside. Jason hurried to the nearest store he could find with Gotham Rouges jerseys. He grabbed a shirt that looked to be her size.

As soon as he paid for it, he was sprinting back to the newspaper.

He walked inside and immediately had people staring at him, though only a few were actually trying to hide it. There was a charity fundraiser being hosted by Bruce Wayne coming up . . . and if Jason didn't show up willingly, then Dick or Tim were going to drag him to it like they'd done before.

Jason shook his head and walked up to the front desk. The lady at the desk was openly staring at him as he approached. "Hi, I'm here to give Alialee Zaren something I owe her."

The lady shook herself out of it, "R-right, I'll show you to her." She got up from the desk and had him follow her to Alialee's office. "She's right in there, just knock."

Jason knocked, waiting for an answer.

"Come in." He smiled, opening the door.

"Hey there. I brought you that shirt I promised."

Jason hadn't noticed another woman in the office with Alialee until she pointed her out to him.

"Oh, hi, Jason. This is my best friend Natalia." Jason nodded at the blonde in acknowledgement, and she blushed in return.

"So, I was wondering on my way over here, uh . . . would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" Jason bit his lip waiting for an answer.

"No . . . the Knights have a game tomorrow that I have to be at," She said with a straight face. Natalia just gaped at her friend in disbelief.

"Can I have your number then?" Jason asked, starting to lose hope. She was the first person to ever reject Jason Todd Wayne.

"Oh no. Alialee, I am not gonna stand to see you miss out on a date with _Jason Todd_!" Natalia said standing up. Alialee looked bewildered. Jason wasn't too far from being bewildered himself; he quickly changed his expression into a smirk. At least someone was on his side.

"Natalia, no one can cover for me at the game tomorrow. I can't go on a date!" She protested to her best friend.

"Then give him your number and go some other time!" Natalia retorted back.

"No. . ."

"Why not?"

"I don't know him!"

Jason stood in silence as the girls spoke. "That's the point of a date! To go out, get to know someone! If it doesn't go well, then y'all don't have to talk ever again!" Jason didn't notice Natalia's southern accent 'til then.

"No. He's rude! He's a smartass!"

"And you're not? If it were up to me, y'all make the perfect couple. If you don't give him your number, then I will." Natalia had a triumphant smirk on her face, knowing she had the upper hand.

"Don't you dare!" Alialee stated, standing up and slamming down the notebook she was currently holding.

"Oh, I will." The smirk still on Natalia's face, she looked down and grabbed a post-it and wrote Alialee's number down. "You don't give it to him willingly, trust me, I'm just gonna give it to him myself."

Jason stepped closer to Alialee's desk. "I can be very persistent when I want something. But it looks like your friend here is willing to help me." He smirked.

Alialee sighed; she didn't know what else to do. These two weren't going to let up anytime soon, and she wanted to get out of the coffee soaked shirt she had on. Plus she had a lot of work to do, especially for the football game tomorrow night. "Just give him my number. No dinner dates, I don't do dinner dates well." She pointed the pen in her hand at Jason with a stern look in her eyes. Natalia squealed and clapped, handing Jason Alialee's phone number.

Jason shoved Alialee's number into his pocket, winked at Natalia and saluted, with a smirk, at Alialee. Jason walked out of the Gotham Gazette and onto the streets; he had a grin on his face.

"Jayjay!"

_Damnit!_ Jason recognized that voice. It was none other than his older brother, Dick Grayson; he turned to face his brother.

"What do you want, Dick?" Jason's good mood completely switched to annoyance.

"I was just wondering why I saw you walk out of the GG?"

"I owed a girl a shirt for bumping into her and dumping coffee on her. . ."

Dick nodded. "You couldn't be more subtle and just ask for her number?" he teased.

Jason rolled his eyes and continued walking down the street. "I did get her number. . ." he mumbled.

"Oh really, Jaybird?" Dick smirked, keeping pace with his brother. "What's her name?"

"Alialee Zaren. . ." Jason said, somewhat reluctantly.

"Oh the big shot sports writer?"

"Yup."

"When's the date?" Dick asked raising an eyebrow.

"Dunno yet, she is busy tomorrow. So we will have to see." Jason shrugged. "I need a new cup of coffee though." He walked into the coffee shop, Dick close on his heels.

"Let me buy it for you," Dick offered.

"I don't need your money, Dick," Jason said.

"I know. My treat, Jayjay."

Dick ordered two coffees, paying the clerk, who was clearly trying to flirt with him. Too bad the barista wasn't a guy, it would have been hilarious.

Jason suppressed a laugh when Dick handed him his second cup of coffee. "What's so funny?" Dick asked Jason, taking a sip of his cup as the two made their way out the door.

"That poor girl."

"What?"

"She was flirting with you and you didn't even notice!"

"I noticed, she's just not my type," Dick shrugged, sitting down outside at one of the tables.

"Thanks for the coffee, by the way." Jason rose the styrofoam cup up in appreciation, and sat down across from his older brother.

"Do you think you'll bring her to the fundraiser party Dad's throwing in a couple weeks?"

"I dunno yet, Dickiebird." Jason shrugged. "Plus I dunno if I want her to meet the family on a first date. Don't you think that's moving a bit too fast?"

"Nope! We are a fantastic family!" Dick grinned.

Jason shook his head. "Yeah, Bruce the over protective father, you the annoying prying older brother, Tim the know-it-all, and Damian the Hell Spawn." Jason took another drink of his coffee before continuing. "We are the greatest family in the world, Dick." His voice practically dripped with sarcasm.

"Hey! I'm not annoying!" Dick protested; Jason just snorted in response. "I'm not annoying!" Dick grumbled, "I just love my brothers."

"Have you met you? You wanna know everything that's going on with all of us."

"Yeah, because I'm the big brother. I'm just making sure you all are doing good and not getting into trouble. Well, more trouble than usual."

Jason snorted again, "Yeah, you just like being annoying."

"You know, I'm gonna help you win this girl!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no! Don't even think about it! I can do this on my own." Jason shook his head, waving his hands to ward of the curse of the overbearing matchmaker that was his brother.

"Why not, Jayjay?"

"Because I have a feeling you're gonna try and embarrass me in some way."

"I wouldn't do that." He smiled innocently.

"Yeah, right."

"No, Jayjay, I'm just gonna send her a few little gifts, and then a few days before the fundraiser, ask her to go with you."

"I dunno, Dick."

"Trust me, Jay. The gifts will all be under your name."

"If anything goes wrong, I am gonna blame you."

"That's fine."

Jason chuckled a bit. "Well, I'm gonna head home and get ready for patrol tonight, maybe I'll see you then." Jason got up and headed home.

* * *

That night's patrol was quiet, which was really odd for the East End. Red Hood headed toward the Diamond District, but it was quiet there too. He wondered what was up; Hood turned his comm on, "Hey, 'wing, did you notice how quiet tonight is?"

"_Yeah, actually. I wonder what's up_." Hood heard Nightwing's voice in his helmet.

"Dunno, man. I think I'm gonna call it a night; maybe try asking for another date." Red Hood made his way in the direction he left his bike to head home.

"_Did you get any sleep, Red?_" Dick's voice rang in the helmet again. "_You don't sound like you did._"

"Naw. . ." Hood trailed off, thinking about the previous night. He still couldn't believe he let the Joker get away.

"_Well, get home and rest. I'll send your girl a bouquet of flowers tomorrow. Then you can try asking her out on a date again._"

"Alright, talk to you later." Jason turned his comm off, got on his bike and then went home.

It was nearly 4 a.m. when Jason got to his apartment. He thought about sending Alialee a text, but since he knew it was too early he decided not to. He stripped down to his boxers and plopped himself on his bed.

* * *

Jason woke up that afternoon feeling so much better than he had the previous day. He grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand; there was a text each from Dick and Tim. He sighed and opened the messages.

Dick: Good night, Jayjay. Sleep well.

Tim: Don't forget the charity event in two weeks. Bruce told me to remind you.

Jason to Tim: Yeah, yeah, I know. You guys are gonna force me to go anyway.

He sent the message and went to grab a beer. After opening the beer he looked at his phone debating whether or not to text Alialee.

Jason: Hey it's Jason Todd. I know you have the football game tonight but what about tomorrow? Dinner?

A few minutes passed.

Alialee: Sorry Jason, but Natalia and I have plans.

Jason: Why don't you pick a day then?

Alialee: I booked this whole week. Thanks for the flowers by the way.

For a second Jason forgot about the flowers that Dick said he would send.

Jason: You're welcome. Have you picked a day yet?

Alialee: I dunno, Jason. We'll see. I have to go.

Jason sighed, putting his phone down on the kitchen counter. There was a knock at his front door. Opening the door, Jason came face to face with his older brother.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Jason said, letting his brother in.

"Nah, day off today." Dick smiled as he shut the door.

"Then what do you want?"

"I can't spend time with my little brother?"

"You have three; can't you pick one of the others?"

"I see them more than I do you." He plopped himself down on Jason's couch, mostly uninvited and entirely unconcerned about that fact.

Jason sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I guess. Is there anything else you wanted?"

"I wanted to know if Alialee got and liked the flowers 'you' sent her?"

"She got them, said thanks, dunno if she liked them or not." Jason shrugged.

"I see. . . Well, I'm sending her a box of chocolates, not tomorrow but the day after."

"You're making me sound like some mushy, sensitive guy."

"That's the point, Jayjay. You can't be a badass all the time."

"But I am a badass." Jason smirked.

Dick shook his head. "Well, did you get any rest last night?"

"Yeah, I am much better today."

"Good, 'cause me and you are patrolling together tonight, Daddy Bats' orders." Dick shrugged, Jason knew Dick probably had more to do with it than Bruce did, but didn't push the subject.

"Well, we've got a couple hours to kill before then, so do you wanna go see the Rouges kick some ass tonight?" Jason asked as a smile spread across his face.

The End

* * *

_Editor's Note: (since I'm not an author for this one) I just wanted to say that Carson and I now have a series of Dick and Jason one-shots, thanks to this story. The series is titled 'Red Bird, Blue Bird' and we have an undetermined number of one-shots planned for it. They will not be posted in chronological order, though. So as more are added, we will put an ordered list on Carson's profile page. Anyways, I've said my fill. This story was largely written by Carson, as I was writing the next installment for Red Bird, Blue Bird, which ought to be uploaded soon. Take care all! God bless!_

_-TheOneThatGotAway99_

Author's Note: Well, what she said. ^^^^ Obviously we own none of the DC characters, or places… but we tend to have a lot of fun writing Dick and Jason. :D Reviews! I love reviews!

-Carson


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